With Lakshmi Akka
By Erica Bassani
In the spring of 2024, I was in Tiruvannamalai, India, known as the place where the Saint Ramana Maharshi lived most of his life. After dwelling at the feet of holy Mount Arunachala for some months, I was sure there was an unexplored female side to discover. Since everybody for centuries worshiped Arunachala as an emanation of Siva, I was looking for His counterpart, Parvati, which must be there, too. But where to find Her? It was then that my dear friend Ambika told me about Lalita Devi’s temple and Lakshmi Akka. A few days later, we were on our way to interview her. After meditating in the temple, we were welcomed in Lakshmi Akka’s home. She was sitting on a wicker chair, and couldn’t move much due to strong knee pain. I knew it was because of all the walking she did around Arunachala for so many years. Although she doesn’t normally give interviews, she was extremely kind and allowed me to ask her some questions. The only thing she refused was to take a picture of her! She has such a kind gaze and elegant figure that it is really a pity not to share it, but it was her strong will that her appearance not be revealed. For 22 years at Ramanasramam, Lakshmi Akka took care of the room housing Ramana Maharshi’s murti, did all the preparations for Navaratri every year and translated the official chanting from Tamil to Telugu.
Lakshmi Akka, why did you leave your home at eighteen to come to Tiruvannamalai?
As a young woman, suddenly in my mind these questions arose: What is life? What am I doing? The idea of going to spend some time in an ashram became stronger and stronger. I heard about Ramanasramam from my family doctor, who was a devotee. So, I came. At that time here in Tiruvannamalai there were few people, and everybody was asking me: Why did you come here? Why are you not married? I had no answer to offer them! And nobody was helping me. I didn’t know what was happening to my life, and often I found myself crying. The first three months were painful, but then Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi) arranged everything for me to stay.
I imagine you found a place to stay. What was your day like?
I was sleeping in a very small room at that time. Sometimes snakes would come in; so I’d go out! The water was often coming in. A friend came to see me and when she saw the room she cried! “How can you live in such a room?” she asked me in tears. I told her I was happy there. Every day I was going for giripradakshina, the walk of 14 km all around Mount Arunachala. I woke up at 2am, took a little coffee on the way and went barefoot—every day for twenty-two years. On monthly Shivaratri, I’d do it twice, morning and evening, and on Mahashivaratri I’d go five times in a day. Many people were offering food on the way, so much so that my bag was always full. It was not like now, full of houses and shops. There were few people back then and beautiful sounds, wonderful smells. I was mad with happiness. Arunachala was giving me darshan every day.
What was your inner process as you were devoting yourself to Arunachala every day in such a dedicated manner?
As a sadhaka, I was not after my own desires. More and more, my only interest was Bhagavan’s wish. Whatever Bhagavan wanted for me, I was happy to accept. It’s a full surrender. Sadhakas don’t want anything. So, everything goes smoothly! You see, I came here and my family gave me no money. But here we go, fifty years later, everything was arranged for me. When the mind settles for peace; it becomes still. Whatever happens around, it doesn’t change you inside. This is all a big maya. We don’t know anything. He (Bhagavan) does. Erica, you didn’t come here, some force brought you here. We are also not talking. People can laugh about this. It’s just ahamkara, I-making. Everything is already finished. We are deluded people! Really. We think we are speaking now, and I am telling my story, but this is maya. Everything happens outside of our plans. I couldn’t imagine that I would end up living here, you see. Somebody offered me this land. And so it is for everything, including you coming here today. I just see the supreme power of my guru, Ramana. We are blessed. Everything is the same. If you are rich or poor, if there is good food or not, if you have a big room or a small room, all is same. We are all the same. The differences that we see in the appearance, are just prarabdha (the karma of this lifetime).
Can you tell me more about pradakshina?
Each and every person that goes on pradakshina is after something. They want to succeed in their studies, or get married, or fix one problem or the other. On the opposite, the sadhaka goes on pradakshina to offer him or herself to the Guru. Bhagavan knows everything. So, pradakshina literally means that all sins, desires and conditionings come to an end. But sometimes it’s tricky, you know. Here in Tiruvannamalai there are many gurus now. We have to be careful of that! It could be just ahamkara—‘I’m a guru.’ So, when someone called me a guru, I bit them—with love, of course. Because we shall not forget that the truth is that we are all the same.
Weren’t you ever afraid of walking around the mountain alone, sometimes in the darkness?
I did pradakshina alone as a woman for all these years and nothing bad ever happened to me. Only good things came! I always felt protected by Bhagavan. Twenty, thirty years ago, nobody wanted to do it. It was not like now, when there are these big crowds coming. Often, I was walking on my own, but I also met lovely people. And I used to perceive wonderful smells. Have you experienced it? Many people report of having smelled something extraordinary while doing pradakshina. It’s not just the incenses from the temples.
So, the mountain symbolizes Siva, the divine Father; what about the Mother?
Siva-Parvati are the same. Arunachala is half Siva and half Parvati; it’s both. I’m now going to show you a pradakshina map. You see, these are pictures I took of the different faces of Arunachala. The hill, according to where you are standing in the pradakshina, looks almost completely different. At the starting point of giripradakshina you see Arunachala as Nandi, the bull of Siva. And so on, it changes until you see also Parvati. Arunachala is the power that is containing shakti.
How did this Lalita Devi Temple
come into being?
That is my uncle’s service to Devi. This man supported me greatly. I always call him “uncle,” but he was not my biological uncle, rather a friend of my grandfather. He was an army officer and was going around with guns. He was very much respected. He also left his family once his children were grown up and came to live at Arunachala. He protected me! I was in my twenties and you can imagine young men wanted me. But he was making everybody afraid so I could continue with my sadhana in peace. He was a very good man indeed. Also, I didn’t want to show my beauty, so I made my hair shorter. I only wanted sadhana. If we come in total surrender, we are safe.
This uncle had darshan of Lalita Devi and I also wanted it, so he facilitated that for me. I lost touch with this world when I saw Her, She had ten arms and was an explosion of gold. It was very powerful. For two days I didn’t move, and on the third day I came back to consciousness. And after twelve years, we built the temple dedicated to Devi.
I am impressed by this big rock you have here in the living room. What’s the story behind it?
Back in the time when I had just moved to this new place, the owner of the land came for a visit. This big rock was in the middle of the block and he asked me, what do you want to do with it? And I answered: leave it, Bhagavan will come. So, I put a little lamp and I left it there on the rock. After some time, my auto driver sculpted the statue of Bhagavan that you see on top of it, and offered it to me. What a work of devotion! So now I have Bhagavan sitting on a rock in my living room.
Erica Bassani is a copywriter, author and spiritual seeker since her early twenties. She’s combined her highest passion with her deepest love by founding the Women Awakening Project (www.womenawakeningproject.com), a space to gather interviews with female masters of all spiritual traditions.